Brauna, 1975

CommentaryAt the beginning of the 1960’s, in a period characterized by Minimal and Concept art, Baselitz developed an expressive painting style and an almost ‘old fashioned’ form of painting. Even today, his works seem raw, powerful, expressive and bold. With the sexual provocation of his painting ›Die Nacht im Eimer‹, he created his first scandal, and success, in 1963. His later ›Helden-Bilder‹ were works of a new beginning, commentaries on recent German history and at the same time a modernization of classical figurative motifs.In 1969, Baselitz decided to turn his motifs upside down. His first painting in this style was ›Der Wald auf dem Kopf‹. The run of the paint in ›Brauna‹, made in 1976, clearly shows how the work was painted upside down. The viewer is thus confronted directly with the organisation of color and form. Locating the landscape between the sky and the earth is impossible. If you turn the painting around, the impression of a forest disappears and the composition seems abstract. However, Baselitz does not leave it at pictorial persuasiveness. This ‘reversal’ also opens up metaphysical, philosophical and conceptual levels of meaning. As if the entire landscape were ›packed‹, the forest in ›Brauna‹ stands there, uprooted, as evidence of industrial exploitation and destruction of nature.

Provenance1982, Galerie Art in progress, Düsseldorf, (Heiner Hepper)

Obj_Id: 3,241

Obj_Internet_S: ja

Obj_Ownership_S (Verantw):Painting, Sculpture, Media Art

Obj_SpareNField01_N (Verantw): 187

Obj_Creditline_S: Gemäldesammlung

Obj_Title1_S: Brauna

Obj_Title2_S:

Obj_PartDescription_S (Titelerg):

Obj_SpareMField01_M (Alle Titel): Brauna Brauna

Obj_Dating_S: 1975

Jahr von: 1,975

Jahr bis: 1,975

Obj_IdentNr_S: G 459

Obj_IdentNrSort_S: G 0459

Obj_Classification_S (Objtyp): Painting

Obj_Crate_S: 250 x 200 cm

Obj_Material_S: Oil and acrylic on canvas

Obj_Technique_S:

Obj_SpareSField01_S (Mat./Tech.): Oil and acrylic on canvas

Obj_AccNote_S (Erwerb): Acquired in 1982 with support of the Folkwang-Museumsverein